(Image courtesy of iLounge)
The best way to personalize your new iPhone 4 is with a case, especially now that Apple has gone on record by recommending one to solve reception issues caused by the handset’s antenna. However, it appears that the early crop of cases -- including Apple’s own Bumpers -- leave a lot to be desired.
iLounge has a report that looks at the problem of iPhone 4 cases, specifically the first dozen or so to be available at launch. The problem appears to stem from the new addition of an LED flash to the iPhone 4, which has created some challenges for case designers since they weren’t able to test on an actual device before making their product available at launch.
“Developers really rushed out the first handful of cases in order to get early options into AT&T and Best Buy stores,” iLounge notes, “and in some cases are going back and fixing problems they discovered only after the iPhone 4 became available. Issues with the iPhone 4 flash have been most widely discussed, particularly in cases from iFrogz that have mysteriously not arrived here for testing, but also in other cases with backs that weren’t cut to allow the flash enough room to fire.”
Among the recommended cases at this early stage of the game are ones from Incipio, which our particular iPhone 4 is also using. Speck’s PixelSkin and CandyShell are also recommended by iLounge, who notes that CandyShell is being updated.
At the lower end of the scale, Hard Candy and Gumdrop scored mixed results and Apple’s own Bumpers were summed up by iLounge with one word: “Ugh.”
“There’s not much more to say about the iPhone 4 Bumper “Cases” other than that they’re rip-offs -- ridiculous pricing given that they offer no front or back protection,” iLounge concludes. “While we like the metallic buttons that are built into the Bumpers, the cases’ almost complete incompatibility with headphone and Dock Connector accessories makes them a huge pain to actually use with anything. We wouldn’t recommend them to anyone.”
Somewhere, Steve Jobs must be shedding a tear…
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